Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic will meet on the tennis court once again, this time at the 2024 Six Kings Slam.
The two best players at the recently concluded Shanghai Masters will play again, but this time at an exhibition event. Sinner and Djokovic reached the final of the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season, and they even talked about their flights to Saudi Arabia during the trophy ceremony.
Now, they will meet on the court again, in their ninth meeting, even though this one won't count towards the official statistic. As one of the two legends at the event, Djokovic was granted a bye into the semi-final round of the tournament.
On the other hand, Sinner had to play the quarter-final match, but if anything, it will provide him with an advantage in the semi-final match. He completely crushed Daniil Medvedev, winning 6-0, 6-3 in just over an hour.
Djokovic didn't have a chance to test out the court in Riyadh in competitive conditions, but his vast experience will certainly come into play during this match.
Regardless of the result, both players will play one more match on top of this one at the event, as the loser will move into the third-round match, while the winner will obviously play the final.
Jannik Sinner vs Novak Djokovic Head-to-head:
This will be the ninth meeting for these two players. While Djokovic dominated against the younger player early on, leading the H2H 3-0, the Italian was the more dominant player recently, tying the score at 4-4.
Their most recent match came in the 2024 Shanghai Masters final, and Sinner was able to win that in two sets. In fact, the 23-year-old player didn't face a single break point in his last two matches against Djokovic.
He's also on a three-match winning streak against the 37-year-old Serbian, and in their most recent matches, it looked like this matchup became a nightmare for Djokovic.
| Jannik Sinner | Novak Djokovic | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | H2H | 4 |
| 1 | Rank | 4 |
| 23 | Age | 37 |
| 65-6 | 2024 W/L | 37-9 |
| 255-80 | Career W/L | 1124-222 |
Jannik Sinner vs Novak Djokovic Prediction:
There are just too many factors pointing toward the reigning World No. 1 player. He has experience with playing at The Venue in Riyadh already, which, given the frequent unpredictability of surfaces at exhibition events, gives him a huge advantage.
On top of that, it seems that the conditions in Saudi Arabia suit Sinner, at least judging by the dominance of his win over Medvedev. He also didn't have any troubles against Djokovic the last time, and even though the Serbian is arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, there just doesn't seem to be any factor pointing in his direction when it comes to this match.
The World No. 1 player should be able to win, and like the last time they met, he should be able to do it in straight sets again. But as always, don't underestimate Djokovic. That's when he thrives.
Prediction: Jannik Sinner to win in two sets.
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